Shock absorber



1941! P. w. THORNHILL 2,243,782

SHOGKABSORBER Filed NOV. 9, 1940 ATTORNEYS Patented May 27, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT. oFF1c.s

SHOCK ABSORBER Peter Warborn Thornhill, London, England, as-

signor o! one-halt to The Blbbesford Company Limited, London, England Application November 9, 1940, Serial No. 365,116 In Great mam mm 2, .1939

9 Claims. lower-s4) This invention relates to shock absorbers of the type in which liquid is used for damping a cylinder and a plungertelescopically mounted therein, resilient means such as a quantity of compressed gas and/or one or more springs being provided to sustain the load which is normally carried by the shock absorber due to the weight of the vehicle or equivalent upon which the shock absorber is installed.

It is the object of the present invention to relative movement oi. a pair of members, usually provide improvements in such shock absorbers whereby they may be rendered more efllcient.

In a shock absorber having a vafiablevolume working space which is filled with liquid and which communicates by way of a damping valve device with a chamber arranged so that liquid entering it causes energy to be stored in resilient means, thereby placing the liquid under sufficient pressure to support the normal static load on the shock absorber, the present invention is characterised by the fact that the damping valve device comprises a pair of non-return valves chamber. Said controlling means can conveniently be arranged to act in conjunction with the non-return valves so that only when the pressure in the variable volume working-space falls below the pressure corresponding to the static loadon the shock absorber, and at the same time below the pressure in the chamber, is said liquid permitted to pass from the chamber to the variablevolume working space.

Further according to the invention a shock absorber is provided .comprising telescopically slidable cylinder and plunger tubes, each closed at its outer end, a piston head on the'plunger tube separating a variable volume working space within the cylinder from the interior oi. the

plunger, resilient means within said plunger, and

. liquid filling the whole of the said working space and communicating by way of a damping valve .device with the space within the plunger, so that the liquid therein coacts with the resilient means to store energy in the latter, characterised by the fact that the damping valve device comprises a pair or non-return valves arranged in opposia-rranged to act in. opposition, eitherone of said i 1 non-return valves being adapted to be held open by controlling means which are operated by the pressure ot the liquid in the variable volume working space.

Accordingto a feature of the invention there is provided a shock absorber having a variable volume working space which is filled with liquid and which communicates by way of a damping valve device with a chamber arranged so that liquid entering it causes energy to be stored in resilient means, thereby placing the liquid under suflicient pressure to support the normal static load onthe shock absorber, characterised by the fact that the damping valve device comprises a pair of non-return valves arranged to act in opposition, either one of said non'-retum valves being adapted to be held open by controlling means which are responsive to the pressure of the liquid in the variable volume working space, and are operated thereby in one direction or the other depending upon whether the liquid pressure in the variable volume workrequired to support the static load.

Preferably the controlling means acts in conjunction with the non-return valves so that only when the pressure in the variable volume working space. rises above the pressure corresponding to the static loadon the shock absorber, and at ing space is greater or"less than the pressure tion, and controlling means which are actuated by the liquid pressure in the cylinder working space, depending upon whether said liquid pres- .sure exceeds or is less than a predetermined value, thereby forcing one of the non-return valves open and allowing liquid to open and pass through the other of said non-return valves.

The said predetermined pressure 'may correspond substantially to-that required to support the normal static load on the shock absorber and may be determined by the adjustment or a bers provided within said passageway at a position between said valve members, the cylindrical portion having that end surface nearer the stem acted upon by the pressureoi the liquid in the shock absorber, while said cylindrical I rection 'by a force corresponding to the static load on the shock absorber.

the same time above the pressurein the chamber, is said liquid permitted to escape to the portion is urged resiliently in the opposite distem between the cylindrical portion of the piston valve member and the radial flange may be exposed to .llquid pressure in the plunger,' the That part or the communication with the atmosphere and is urged inwards by a coiled compression spring adapted to overcome the liquid pressure in -the shock absorber when the latter is in equilibrium,

bearing its normal static load.

In a shock absorber in which resilient meansfor extending the shock absorber comprise a quantity of compressed gas disposed within the plunger, said gas being separated from the liquid by a'floating .piston within said plunger, the floating piston may be provided with a nonreturn valve adapted to permit the liquid topass into the gasspace when the shock absorber is being charged with liquid, and to escape through therusual air inlet valve or equival'ent.

The airinlet valve or equivalent may communicate with a tube extending downwards into the space for compressed gas, the length of said tube determining the volume of liquid retained within the shock absorber.

The invention is described by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:, i

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of one form' of shock absorber; and

Figures 2 and 3 are fragmentary elevations showing the radial flange of the valve device in two of its operating positions.

' The shock absorber shown in the drawing-is intended primarily for use onmotor cars, tanks, and other land vehicles, but of course the prin-' The working space 2| within the cylinder I0 is always completely full of damping liquid, such as oil, which communicates by way of a passage 22 and a damping valve .device indicated at 23 with the interior ,24 of a stem 25, which latter leads through the piston head I6 and has a perforated cap fitting 26 adapted to allow liquid to flow from the stem 25 into ,a working space 21 disposed within the plunger tube [5. A floating piston 23 having a packing ring 29 is freely slidablewithin said plunger tube and, normally serves as a partition separating the main body of liquid in the space -21 from a quantity of compressed air or other gas disposed within a space 30 in the upper part of said plunger tube. The floating piston 28 i fitted with a non-return valve 3| of the mushroom type, which valve is normally held down on its seating 32 by a coiled compression spring 33. This valve is used to ensure that the working spaces 2| and 21 are completely filled with liquid when the shock abin the meantime. As a resultthe ingoing liquid,

' after filling the working spaces .2i and 21, forces ciples involved can be applied equally well to shock absorbers or struts for use in the undercarriages, tail wheels and nose wheels of aircraft. In each case-the shock absorber or strut is arranged so that shortening of a pair of telescopic members, as would normally be caused by applying the usual load to the shock absorber, causes energy to be stored'in a resilient medium, which latter, after a predetermined amount of movement has occurred, is capable of supporting the whole load on the shock absorber. In other words, the shock absorber comprises springing means as well as means for damping relative movement of the shock absorber elements.

Thus, in the drawing, ,one of these elements comprises a tubular cylinder III, which is closed at its lower end by a plug H and is enlarged in diameter at l2 to, accommodate a packing as sembly, which is indicated generally at l3, this being held in position by a nut ll. Theother element takes the form of a tubular plunger I5, which is slidable in a liquid-tight manner by the length of the tube 34.

the floating piston 28 as far as possible in an upward direction andthen the valve 3| opens,,

permitting the liquid to flow into the space 30 until said liquid reaches the level of the bottom of the tube 34. Theliquid then fiows freely out of' the air valve 35, carrying with it any air bubbles, and the proper volume of liquid is thus inserted into the shock absorber, as determined When the inlet connection 36 is closed, all is pumped in through the valve 35' until the interior of the shock absorber is ata pressure suflicient to' carry in' a resilient manner the normal static load on the shock absorber.

The piston head I6. is grooved circumferen-.. .tially to accommodate an obstructor device cominto'contact with the cylinder I 0 by a rubber ring 39, thus, in efiect, considerably retarding the flow of liquid past the outside of the piston head IS without actually forming an eflicient closed by a piston head IS, the opposite end of said plunger tube l5 being closed by a cap I! serving to carry a tubular shield l8 for protecting from dust, dirt and other foreign matter the outer sliding surface of said plunger tube l5.

- The plug II and cap II are shaped to form fixing lugs, whichare shown partly broken away with. transverse pins (not shown) carried bythe two parts of the vehicle or equivalentlrequ'iring to moverelatively, for example the axle mountin: and the chassis-frame in-the case ofa motor vehicle.

- in Figure 1 and which are provided with tubular bearing bushes l9 and 20 respectively to engage seal. The piston head IB'is also fitted with a rubber ring 31, whichiis adapted to act as a non-return valve, the main objectiof this being to avoid undue pressure upon the packing it during the extension of the shock absorber on account of liquid which has leaked past the obstructor device 33, 39 during the preceding contracting stroke or strokes.

The damping valve device 23, which is operatively interposed between the passage 22 and the interior 24 of the stem 25, comprises an outer shell 40, which is fitted into the end plug Ii of the cylinder and is closed; by an adjustable cap member 4!. In line with the outer shell 43 the plug it is bored transversely, as indicated at 42,

part 49 of the outer shell 40, a packing ring 48 being provided to prevent leakage of liquid. The radial flange 45 is of pointed profile in order to produce a pair of opposing irusto-conical seating surfaces, the flange 45 being disposed between a pair of annular valve members 50 and i. These valve members 50 and 5! are in the form of flat washers, which fit snugly but slidably portion 43. The latter is in engagement with a,

washer 55, which is acted upon by a coiled compression spring 56 serving to force the piston valve member 43-46 towards the left with a force which can be regulated by adjusting the cap 4|. This movement of the piston valve member is limited by the tubular guide 41, while its'travel in. the opposite-direction is governed by a stop pin 51 adjustably screw-threaded into a sleeve 58 carried within the cap 4|. It will be seen that as the aperture in each of the annular-valve members 50 and 5| has the same diam eter as that of the cylindrical portion 43, the liquid pressure in the space 24 has no eflect in mming the piston valve member 43-45 in either direction, but the liquid pressure within the variable volume space 21 of the cylinder acts upon the adjacent surface of the radial flange 45 and upon the end of. the spigot 48 so as to urge the piston valve member towards the right against the force exerted by the spring 55. In practice is just able to overcome the contrary force exerted by the liquid, thus causing the piston valve member to take up theposition shown in'Figure 1. parted from the annular valve member 5!, leaving the latter in engagement with the abutment ring 52, while the other annularvalve member 55 is separated from the abutment ring 52 and is in seating engagement with the flange 45v Thus under these conditions the working space 2i within the cylinder is completely isolated from the plunger space 21, except perhaps for a very slight amount of leakage which might take place past the outside of the annular valve member/5O and which, although not appreciably aflecting the damping action of the valve devicein operation, would permit the fluid pressures in the various parts of the shock absorber to become substantially equalised when the shock absorber is in a static condition.

'said wheel a predetermined gravitational load.-v

In order that the operation of the shock absorber may be clearly understood, it will be supposed that said shock absorber is operatively interposed between the chassis of a vehicle and one of the wheels thereof so as to transmit to constituting part of the weight of the vehicle. This load on the shock absorber will be. called W and the corresponding intensity of fluid pres- It will be seen that the flange 45 has conditions; the load, as mentioned above, being W and the internal fluid pressure being P. When the wheel in question strikes and rides over a bump, the chassis of the vehicle tends to follow its original level course, with the result that the cylinder ID of the shock absorber rises relative to the plunger I5, thus raising the pressure of the liquid in the cylinder space 2 I. This causes the piston valve member 43-46 to be deflected swiftly to the right, so that the flange 45 leaves the annular valve member 50 against the abutment ring 52 and deflects the annular valve member 5i, the position occupied by the parts being as shown in Figure 2. The liquid can thus escape from the working space 2| by passing between the flange 45 and the annular valve mem ber 50, said liquid then urging the annular valve member 5| away from the flange 45 and consequently gaining free access to the plunger space 21 by way of the passage 24 through the centre of the stem 25. In this way undue rise in pres- 1 sure within the cylinder space 2| is avoided during the shortening of the shock absorber and only a relatively small upward thrust is imparted to the chassis of the vehicle. When the bump is passed and the recoil or extension stroke of the shockabsorber commences, the pressure in the cylinder space 2|, of-course, ceases to rise,'but as thershock absorber is at the time shorter than normal it follows that the pressure within the cylinder space 2| will be somewhat in excess of l the normal pressure P. The pressure in the cylinder space 2|, however, rapidly falls, but the flow of liquid into said space from the plunger space 21 is prevented by the engagement of the annular valve member M with the radial flange 45, as will be seen in Figure 3. This permits the pressure in the cylinder space 2| to fall rapidly until a value approximately equal to P' is reached, and at this point the piston valve member -45 tends to move back toi the position shown in Figure 1, thus allowing the pressure liquid within the stem 25 to force the annular valve member away from the radial flange 45 and pass into the cylinder space 2i at a suiilcient rate to maintain the pressure in said space substan- 5 cannot, of course, be appreciably exceeded dur-.

tially equal to the static value P. This value ing the recoil stroke, for if the liquid were to ing the spring '58, thus effectively preventing any more liquid from flowing into the cylinder space 2! until the pressure therein had dropped below 7 the value P. It will thus be seen that during the sure in the shock absorber necessary to support recoil stroke of the-shock absorber the pressure within the cylinder space is at all stages preyented from rising substantially above the value P, which means that the upward force on the vehicle chassis is limited to a value approximating W; that is, the vehicle is fully supported but is not pushed upwards, except to a very limited extent during the shortening of the shock absorber. Y

A similar eifect occurs when the wheel of the vehicle enters and rides out of a pothole or other depression in the road surface. In this case the shock absorber first extends and the annular valve member 5. permits liquid to enter the cylinder space 2| freely in order thatthe pressure drop in said space may be as small as possible. As the recoil or shortening stroke commences the liquid is of course trapped within the cylinder space 2|, and although the general pressure in the shock absorber is less than P, the pressure rapidly rises in the cylinder space M owing to the fact that liquid cannot escape past the annular valve member 50. Very little shortening is therefore necessary to make the pressure in the cylinder space 25 become equal to P, thus enabling the shock absorber once again to support its full static load W, The recoil stroke proceeds, however, and as the pressure liquid in the cylinder space at tends to rise above P, the piston valve member it-t moves to the right by overcoming the spring 56, thus permitting the liquid to escape at an appropriate rate by shifting the annular valve member 5i away from the flange 45 as the latter leaves the annular valve member 50 in engagement with the abutment ring 52. In this way the liquid within the cylinder space 2| is maintained at a pressure substantially equal to P for the greater part of the recoil stroke, with the result that the weight port'the normal static load onthe shock absorber and means establishing a. passageway between said working space and said chamber, a damping valve construction disposed in said passageway, said construction comprising, opposed normally closed check valves and means movable in response to pressure in said working space to open one of said check valves when the pressure in said working space falls below a predetermined value and to open the otherof said check valves when the pressure exceeds said value.

2. A shock absorber as claimed in claim 1 including loading means associated with said means movable in response to pressure in the working space, said loading means being so adjusted that liquid is permitted to flow from said working space to said chamber only when the pressure in said working space rises above the pressure cor responding to the static load on the shock absorber and at the same time above the pressure in said chamber. 3. A shock absorber as claimed in claim 1 including loading means associated with said means movable in response to pressure in the working space, said loading means being so adjusted that liquid is permitted to flow from said chamber to said working space only when the pressure in the working space falls below the pressure corresponding to the static load on the shock absorber and at the same time below the pressure in said chamber.

4. A shock absorber as claimed in claim 1 including adjustable spring means for loading the means movable in response to pressure in the working space, the adjustment of said spring means determining the pressure at which said check valves will be opened.

5. In at hydraulic shock absorber including relatively movable elements defining a variable volume working space therebetween, means defining a variable volume chamber within one of said elements, resilient energy storing means actingon said means and tending to reduce the t ntra volume of said variable volume chamber thereby placing the liquid under sufficient pressure to support the normal static load on the shock absorber and means establishing a passageway be-. tween said working space and said chamber, a damping valve construction disposed in said passageway, said construction comprising, a pair of annular valve members slidable in said passageway to a position permitting liquid flow therethrough, means including a radially extending flange located between said annular members, an annular abutment disposed intermediate said annular valve members serving to space the same, resilient means urging said annular valve members toward one another and against said flange to close said passageway, said flange at one side being exposed to the liquid pressure of said working space and resilient loading means urging said piston against said pressure, whereby one or the other of said annular valve members will be moved to open position depending upon whether the pressure in said working space acting on said flange exceeds or falls below the loading of said resilient means. 6. In a hydraulic shock absorber including relatively movable elements defining a variable volume working space therebetween, means defining a variable volume chamber within one of said elements, resilient energy'storing means acting on said means and tending to reduce the volume of saidvariable volume chamber thereby placing the liquid under sui'ficient pressure to support the normal static load on the shock absorber and means establishing a passageway between said working space and said chamber, a damping valve construction disposed in said passageway, said construction comprising, means defining a bore communicating with said passageway, a piston valve including a cylindrical portion, a stem and a radial flange, said cylindrical portion being mounted or sliding movement in said bore and said stem extending axially in said passageway, a pair of annular valve members slidable in said passageway to permit fluid flow therethrough, one of said annular valve mem- -bers being disposed on either side of said radial flange, an annular abutment disposed intermediate said annular valve members serving to space the same, resilient means urging said annular valve members toward one another and against said flange to close said passageway, one side of said flange being exposed to the liquid pressure of said working space and the other side of said flange and the end of said cylindrical portion being exposed to the liquid pressure of said chamber, the diameter of said exposed cylindrical portion being equal 'to the diameter of the'aperture defined by the annular valve members, and a coiled compression spring acting on said cylindrical portion through said stem to urge said radial flange against the pressure of said wor ing space.

7. A shock absorber as claimed in claim 6 including means defining a housing for said coiled compression spring acting on the cylindrical portion of said piston valve, said housing means having a bore therein establishing communication with the surrounding atmosphere, said spring being loaded to overcome the liquid pressure in the shock absorber when the latter is in equilibrium bearing its normal static load.

8. A hydraulic shock absorber comprising, a relatively telescoping piston and cylinder unit, the piston of which is provided with an internal cavity, Said piston and cylinder defining a variable volume working space therebetween, a floating piston dividing the internal cavity of said first-named piston into an upper and lower chamber, means establishing a passageway between said working space and said lower chamvalves in said passageway, means for admitting air under pressure to said upper chamber and a check valve in said floating piston permitting flow charged with liquid it may pass into the upper chamber and escape through the air admission means. 5

9. A hydraulic shock absorber comprising, a relatively telescoping piston and cylinder unit. the piston of which is providedwith an internal cavity, said piston and cylinder defining a variable volume working space therebetween, a floatfrom said lower to said upper chamber, -whereby when the shock absorber is being p ing piston dividing the internal cavity at said ber, means for admitting a liquid into said lower chamber and said working space, opposed check in said passageway, means'for admitting air under pressure to said upper chamber, said means including a downwardly extending stem disposed axially within said chamber and a check valve in said floating piston permitting flow from said lower to said upper chamber, whereby when the shock absorber is being chargedv with liquid the liquid may pass into the upper chamber and may escape through the air admission means, while the length of the axially extending stem determines the volume 01 liquid retained within the shock absorber. 6

PETER, WARBQRN 'I'HORN'HIIL. 

